England not quite a mod marvel, but mustn't grumble

[Heracles 417]

I hope the USPS does not take any tips from them.

James Button's trip to the post office illustrates the perverse joy of England's famed miserablism.

THE queue runs the length of the post office and out the door, where it's raining. It's been raining all week.

"Cashier number five, please." But whatever the mellifluous, recorded voice says, only two windows are open, and at one of them an African is having a long argument about his identity papers. Everyone in the queue is old. Maybe they were young when they entered the post office.

No one complains, though many tut-tut and mutter: "Typical." We inch forward. The battered old biddy behind me sighs and says in Cockney tones: "Time waits for no man."

But one man in a suit won't wait for time. He marches to a window and thunders like a guest in Fawlty Towers: "This is the worst postal service I have ever encountered in my life. Goodbye!"

The worker has his head down, counting coins or stamps or something. He doesn't speak. He doesn't even look up.

Finally a manager appears. "I'm very sorry but due to strike action the cashiers will be closed for the next 10 minutes." Hearing a groan, she spreads her palms. "It's not my fault, I can't do nuffink."

Now it's my turn to storm out. Strikes in 2007 Britain? Where's Maggie Fatcher when you need her?

This country has changed in the past 30 years. The factories, pits and mills have shut. It's a shiny, new economy, staffed by cheerful young people sporting name badges and putting the "sir" in service. But a lick of paint can't transform an old house. Under the surface, the Britain of ages past lives on, embodied, I think, in my north London post office.

"A disgraceful waste of taxpayers' money," booms a woman with a pram at the window. Her money is late. People waiting for pension cheques is part of the reason queues are so long. They seem never to have the right ID, though they insist they do. The Government wants to put all payments in the bank, but a lot of pensioners don't have bank accounts.

The cashier's reply is inaudible: he is behind plated glass, which encourages customers to shout. "Oh, I will count it carefully," the woman tartly and theatrically replies. "I'm a single mother."

Against the cliche of British officialdom, the staff are friendly and patient. An old man pushes a pile of letters, one by one, through the grille: "That one first-class mail to Wales … that one priority post to Hull … that second-class to Pratt's Bottom." Sighs and smirks and rolled eyes in the queue. Only in Britain is there a class system for mail.

Would I be interested in insurance, a credit card, a phone card for Australia, the middle-aged cashier asks me. But he doesn't press, and I'm not sure his heart is in it. He didn't have to do this selling caper when he started at the post office.

Beside the cashiers is a large, inflatable palm tree and a sign: "Win a fun-filled holiday in sunny Bermuda."

Everyone in line, white and black, looks the same: the English melting pot has cooked them all into a grey pudding. No one is going to Bermuda.

The inflatable palm is struggling. Twice it sags, teeters and falls sideways. Twice a cashier gets up from her desk, walks to the front and sets it straight. But the third time, the palm tips over, tumbles off its bench and lies limp on the dirty green carpet. This time it's left there.

The man in overalls beside me says in a voice that holds a thousand years of English life: "Says it all, dunnit?"

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/englan...4560042064.html

[Aniomaman 0]

True Dat

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I have to say as bad as the Royal Mail can be - I've been stuck in a queue for over an hour at a district post office in New Jersey while one hump helps an entire queue of 100 people (many of whom don't speak any English).

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I have to say that sounds like our local post office here south of Atlanta ALL the time and they are not on strike. I have to allow an hour if I need to go to the post office for anything because the line up is all the way down the length of the building and often to the door. I have seen it occasionally out of the door too. It doesn't seem to matter what time of day I arrive, I always have a long, long wait. I'm bringing a book with me next time I go.

Edited July 21, 2007 by Kathryn41

[Mags 112]

I spent many minutes/hours queueing in the PO line. *sigh*

[Heracles 417]

I don't understand why the post offices are so busy in the US. You cannot even pay a bill, do your banking or buy office supplies as in Aus post offices.